Friday, February 27, 2004

Friday Night at Work again. My breakfast of nasi lemak this morning seems ages ago. So today, we were briefed by the company's chief administrator and the main HR guy about some travelling stuff. We had to gather in this conference room crowded with engineers with a space in the middle for the two presenters. As I looked around, I realized how similar this situation was with Rebel Alliance's meeting in The Return of the Jedi and the pre-Death Star assault briefing in A New Hope. The administrator was clearly Mon Mothma - stern, well-dressed and commanding the presence of everyone in the room. And the HR guy was Admiral Ackbar. I think he even had the same salmon-coloured skin.

The engineers, however, were so like the Rebel pilots in A New Hope. Chatty ( when Mon Mothma wasn't speaking ) and full of stupid remarks. It really - really - really felt like Mon Mothma and General Ackbar giving the pilots their final briefing before the Death Star run. And now with me still at work, I wonder if this might be MY Death Star run.

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Yesterday was a freakishly cold day in the office. So I loitered around until late evening doing that thing called work, then went home for a nice packet of fried rice with duck egg ( cause no one eats chicken anymore because of bird flu ).

I didn't expect the fried rice and the duck egg to give me one hell of a stomach upset. Well, actually I did. Cause the time my sister and I watched the Twins Effect, we both had fried rice and duck egg, and we both watched the second half of the movie in torment and discomfort. I mean, it's not like there wasn't any precedent to agony by fried rice with duck egg. But I was kinda hoping that it wouldn't turn out that way last night.

So, with a headache brought upon by the cold and pangs of pain from the stomach, I went to bed early. And had this really strange dream where I was told that I was dying ( in like maybe 24 hours or so ), so I went around looking for paper and pen to write farewell letters to some folks I know. Like, morbid much? And the pain in my stomach just added to the reality of the dream.

"Oh look, my stomach hurts, so I must REALLY be dying. Damn, I need to find some pen and paper to write a bunch of letters." Yeah right. 24 hours left to live, I think I'll be busy trying to get laid. Letters my ass. This is what happens when you watch too many sappy Buffy episodes. Suddenly it's all about family.

Friday, February 20, 2004

Here we go again with Friday Night at Work. As usual, it looks like my build is going to take forever to finish. Forever's a long time if you've places to go, people to meet. But when you don't have anything else to do in life, I guess forever's pretty tolerable. Yeah, laugh away you friggin' punks. Ol' Prosey doesn't have a life, yeah.

So anyway, there we were earlier today, having to introduce ourselves to the whole department cause we were new hires. Everyone was like "Hi, I'm so-and-so, I'm from here-and-there and I'm working on the this-and-that project." Me, I went the way of the Man Of Few Words and conveniently forgot to tell everyone the person I was reporting to and when I joined the company. Which was pretty cool, actually. In a place where people were saying corny lines like "I hope you will remember my name" and "My name is actually very easy to remember, bla-la-la", I managed to be unique by delivering the shortest and most disgruntled-sounding line.

Of course, what I really wanted to do was to tell them "Hi. My name is Nicholas Prose. I have been sober for one week now. My last drink was on last Thursday. *pause and look around slowly* Oh FUCK. This isn't the AA meeting, is it?"

Bet that would help me get a meeting squeezed into my supervisor's busy schedule.

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Things tend to take a darker turn right after a nice burst of sunshine. To start off the week with a good bang, I found out on Monday that the WB in their infinite non-wisdom decided to cancel Angel. Like, what is that all about? With Angel off the list, there's only Alias left which is on my must-instawatch list. Tru Calling and Enterprise is nice, but they're not really of the same calibre, know what I mean?

On Tuesday morning, I found out that my monitor - the 17-inch non-flat screen CRT - quietly passed away in the night. When I got to work, some early idiot had stolen my parking lot. It's not like my name is on the lot or anything, but I park there everyday, and I would really appreciate it if people would just leave that lot alone at 7.15am in the morning. Like, come on! 7.15am in the morning, yeah! Only Supreme Beings like Yours Truly can turn up that early and get their pre-designated parking lots. Lesser beings turn up an hour later and saunter into the office as if they own the place. That's not all though. I mean, it's never really all, is it? I walk into the office, and my supervisor informs me that the people we need help from is no longer willing to help us because some little worm(s) has been asking them for help on the sly. The protocol states that we only ask as a group but nooo, some people have to be special and ask by themselves. Attention-deprived retards.

Flash forward to Tuesday night. The Chinese folks in my group decide to organize an impromptu Chinese Community meeting. In Mandarin, no less. Cause if you can't speak their chink language, I'm really sorry, you can't be part of their group. The Indian ladies keep to themselves. And I'm sitting at my little part of the room with moderate feelings of isolation again. Heck, the more things change, the more they remain the same, right? Here we go again with a room full of people and me preferring it to be empty because, really, I could do without company which makes me feel lonely.

It's not all that bad though. Once you've accepted it, you're able to see life in a different light. Maybe it's even okay that I don't fit in - that's the price you pay for being A Man Apart*.

Saturday, February 14, 2004

Here I am again, at work on a Saturday. I like the peace and quiet, although I no longer resent the presence of the other people who work here. Not really resent, that is ( heh heh ). It's been a pretty strange week, and at week's end, Valentine's Day, I don't feel as torn-up as I thought I would be earlier. In fact, I don't feel anything at all. I see all those happy couples walking about and I say to myself, "What a wonderful world." The young should be happy while we elders look upon them with fondness and nostalgia. Ah, to be young and in love again.

Maybe I'm not that old yet, but these days, I do feel pretty ancient. I contribute that to the lack of world-ending urges. At the moment at least, certain issues I've been having with the world have been unexpectedly cleared up - I no longer wish a certain plane crashed while I was on it. Now that's saying a lot for my present state of mind. If I see the button that will end the world, I think I might just cover it up with a blanket or something so that no one else can find it. Let's all live a little longer, eh?

So, children. When you're feeling sad, you just have to be patient. For every cloud has a silver lining. And when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And always remember that things are always darkest before dawn.

Thursday, February 05, 2004

It's been more than three long years ago since I first bitched about Roswell replacing Buffy. Now, sixty episodes later, I look back in wonder at what a fun journey it's been. Like Alias, Dark Angel and vodka, I initially disliked Roswell. And only because it replaced Buffy on Star World. Yeah, that's right. I'm a right petty bastard, I am. But I stuck to it. Kinda like how I stuck to Dark Angel and Alias. Pretty soon I was kinda hooked, then it officially became the Thursday Night Obsession. All sixty episodes, and now I'm finally done.